In this test the car had been driven previously but sat for an hour and a half with the giant industrial fan in front of me while I put a fender liner in. Then I tested the oil pressure. I did an oil change with 0W-40 oil within the past day. The engine and oil temperature are around 140° for this test and I have somebody pushing the gas pedal to the floor so there's moderate RPMs. Low pressure ranges from 40 to 55 PSI. I suppose I could use 0W-30 as well but I'm concerned that 0W-20 would not give enough oil pressure in a hot climate. Does anybody hear have any testings so that we could see actual data?
I would post your question to BITOG (Bob is the oil guy). You’ll have a lot better in depth conversations with those guys about oil vs here. Going to bitog made me feel more comfortable using 0w20 in a hot climate. I am switching over to the Mobil 1 extended performance 0w20 (take advantage of the current rebate) for my next oil change. Right now I have Toyota 0w20. Im at 156k with absolutely no signs of oil consumption other than what I find in my catch can. Btw I live in South Mississippi with some of the highest humidity levels in the country. And heat index of over 115 in the summer.
The guy is philosophical and that's a nice discussion but what I'm searching for here is real world results with the pressure gauge and 0W-20 oil in a 3rd gen Prius. My results shown on my gauge demonstrate that 0W-40 is not causing excessive pressure
